The Junk Food Nutritionist

This month is Mental Health Month and I’m answering questions about foods’ effect on mental health. One common question I get, especially from women, is, “Does chocolate actually help me feel better?” Yes! Researchers as IMDEA Food Institute in Spain and the University of Padova in Italy reviewed 17 studies in humans and determined that the polyphenols in chocolate, tea, and coffee help protect the brain from depression and anxiety.

                I was invited to a potluck party to watch the big football game…at the last minute.                 What!? I love preparing food to share with others. But, I’d rather have advance notice.                 My usual potluck favorites: fruit salad, quinoa salad, hummus with crackers or vegetable chips, or dessert with a dietitian twist.                 Well, I didn’t have enough fruit for fruit salad and I was missing the sauce I usually add to my quinoa salad. I’d already gone grocery shopping and didn’t want to go back out to find any special ingredients.                 So, I thought about ...

If you missed last week's post, I reviewed Sam Turnball's new cookbook, Fuss-Free Vegan: 101 Everyday Comfort Food Favorites, Veganized. Sam and her publisher gave me permission to share one recipe from the book with you and I chose her Fudgy Double Chocolate Brownies. If you know me, you know I love dessert...

I’ve been having cravings lately. No, I’m not pregnant. But I am a woman and cravings are pretty typical in womanhood…not to mention, they're pretty common in stress. Anyway, what this means for you…One morning, I was planning to eat my no-sugar-added wheat squares (like frosted shredded wheat squares only without the sugar). Suddenly, I craved Puppy Chow (not the actual dog food but the human snack). It goes by other names, one of which is apparently a registered trademark, so I can’t mention it here…. Being the dietitian I am, I decided not to just pull up a recipe online and follow it. Nope. I made my own lower sugar version, which I actually think is way tastier than the powdered sugar-coated version…

It's National Nutrition Month! At work, I'm celebrating it with a series on MyPlate . However, I'm going to focus on junk food here because, of course, I am the Junk Food Nutritionist and love to eat. So, for the next few weeks, we'll be looking at items that might be healthy foods in some ways and might be junk foods in other ways. First up is Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt can be a healthy food. It has protein and calcium, which we need to be healthy. But there are many Greek yogurt products on the market. They're not all the same and they're not all equally healthy. One major difference is the ingredient list. Some Greek yogurts are thick due to straining or removing the liquid portion; others are thickened with added ingredients. Today, I will breakdown the ingredients of one flavored Greek yogurt product with raspberry chocolate and toasted coconut mix-ins.   In case you can't see the picture, here are the ingredients again...

 Need a gluten-free and/or vegan treat for your Valentine?  After the jump, I'll share a simple recipe for vegan peanut butter cups and chocolate-dipped cookies. If, like me, you don't have someone special to share Valentine's Day with, you can make these simple chocolate treats for yourself.

I'll be honest, I enjoy chocolate. And that's okay...in moderation,   You've probably heard before that dark chocolate is best health-wise, milk chocolate is worse, and white chocolate is the worst. Here's why: Flavonoids  

As you know, I am a fan of junk food, especially sweets. I believe that everything can be consumed in moderation. For me, that doesn't mean only having dessert once a month. For me, that means having dessert daily but in a small portion and, preferably, making that dessert myself so I can control the ingredients.  Today, I'll show you how to control the amount of sugar in your chocolate chip cookies using two different recipes and two different sugar substitutes. Recipe 1   First up is a cookie made with sucralose (commonly known by the brand name Splenda). I like that sucralose was made from real sugar (sucrose), unlike aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame potassium, and xylitol.  Before stevia became mainstream, sucralose was my sugar substitute of choice for this reason. I still find that sucralose products can be easier to work with because it is used in a one-to-one ratio, meaning 1 cup of sugar can be replaced with one cup of sucralose be...